Now that we’ve looked at how to address envelopes in the more traditional vertical style, let’s take a look how to address horizontal envelopes!

Horizontal

As for the horizontal envelopes, the post office yet again gives us some great instructions:

收件人地址、姓名書於中央偏右，寄件人地址、姓名書於左上角或信封背面。郵遞區號書於地址上方第1行，郵票貼於右上角。

Breaking this down, we get the address and name of the recipient (收件人地址、姓名) in the middle, with the sender’s address and name (寄件人地址、姓名) on the upper right (or even the back!). The zip code is written above the address, and stamp goes on the upper right corner.

It’s pretty much the same style envelope we’re all familiar with, except in the way you order the address, which you may remember from this post.

And the order for writing them:

第1行：郵遞區號 [ yóu​dì​qū​hào ]

第2行：地址 [ dì​zhǐ ]

第3行：姓名或商號名稱

姓名 [ xìng​míng​ ]: name and surname

商號 [ shāng​hào ]: business

名稱 [ míng​chēng ]: name (of a thing or business)

In other words (or in English) it is:

First Line: Postal Code

Second Line: Address

Third Line: Name or Business Name

Note that 第 (dì) is used for ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc) and 行 (háng) is used for lines or rows.

Here, too, you’ll notice they also use 啟 (to open [ qǐ ]) next to the recipient’s name and 緘 (to close; to seal [ jiān ]) next to sender’s name. As before, it is more common to see 收 [ shōu ] for “to” and 寄 [ jì ] “from” instead of 啟 and 緘.

And that’s it! I hope this guide was helpful for you. If you have any questions, ask away in the comments below!